Archwizard Gen
History Little is known about the beginnings on the Teln Elf wizard known as Gen. What is known is that for a period of over a hundred years, beginning Year 574 to year 712, the Archwizard Gen ran an academy on a Teln spire that produced some of the brightest minds in that period of Teln history. Gen's spire, as it was dubbed, was like a second renaissance for Teln elf society. The floating spire traveled seeming on the archwizard's whim, arriving at exotic locations for his students to study first hand the mysteries of magic and the world. Students at the academy started, on their own, ranking themselves based on seniority and magical aptitude, and a ranking system was established fairly early in the academy's existence. Gen did not encourage or discourage this behavior, but as the number of students outgrew the largest auditorium inside the spire, those of lower "rank" were left on the fringes, only learning indirectly through "upper" rank students. This system persisted the entire time of the history of the academy. In the later years of the academy's history, a council was formed to administer things like ranking, resource allocation for research, and other matters. The 9 members of the council are the wizards of the classic arcane schools of magic and the universalist school. The politics involved in selecting each councilor and how the council made decisions are covered in volumes that fill entire shelves in the library. Gen started becoming distant to his students, his classes and field trips became more infrequent. At about this time he met his wife, an aasimar named Diane, who came to the academy to study. He fell in love quickly and proposed to her at the mess hall in front of all his students, and they were married within a fortnight. Gen started spending even less time with even his top students, and the entire Teln elf community became jealous of the attention Diane, whom they consider an outsider, got from the archwizard. The situation boiled over one fateful afternoon when an illegal magical duel started in a laboratory between Diane and one of the council members. The council member was slain during the duel, and witnesses were inconsistent in their testimony. In the end Gen resigned his seat as judge for his wife's trial and let the council take over. Her punishment was to be sealed in a demiplane prison for the remainder of her life, or until evidence comes to light of her innocence in causing the duel to start and the slaying. Soon after this, the Teln spire stopped moving all together, and many of its functions that produced the daily necessities the Teln elves became so used to also stopped functioning. It was discovered soon that Gen had disappeared altogether, and the council attempted without success to take control of the spire and restart its magic functions. Within a few months, almost all the Teln elves left the academy, and the spire because a floating ghost monolith. In the year 1000, an expedition led by Eilynn Silvertide and Scharp Thompson went into the teln mountains find Gen's Spire. To their horror though, the spire has crashed into the mountains. Many fantastical creatures escaped from several magical prisons that were breached during the crash, and the ghost of the Archwizard himself urged the group to check one particular prison demiplane. Inside they faced a powerful balor lord and several of his minions. After a fierce battle, they managed to defeat him. Since then, the remains of the spire has been shunned by locals as many monsters still roam the area, and on occasion, a new prison would be breached, releasing yet another creature into the vicinity. Physical Description In the year 1000, sightings of a Teln elf who introduces himself as "Archwizard Gen" matches old paintings of the archwizard, an elderly Teln elf with grey eyes and bone white hair worn loose and long. His facial features are pronounced, with high cheek bones, and an angular jawline. Since Teln elves live many hundreds of years, there are still several living Teln elves who have seen the archwizard during his last appearance, and their recollection of Gen matches that of recent sightings. Also, on the few occasions people have seen this Gen, they have acquired or received a mysterious note or invitation that is obviously magical in nature that transported them indoors, presumably Gen's spire of old, with its functions seemingly restored. Shortly, after the crash of Gen's Spire, there has been no more reported sightings of the old wizard. Personality Students of Gen will recall him to be a detached teacher who is a wellspring of knowledge and wisdom. He offers little on his own, and prefers people to come to their own conclusions and answers. When he does say something, it is often cryptic and requires those who hears it to think on the words and the situation carefully to decipher any meaning. This often frustrated less the talented students during the academy days. Category:NPC